


Gudako is tired

by RoflsMazoy



Category: Fate/Grand Order
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:54:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22017457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoflsMazoy/pseuds/RoflsMazoy
Summary: The master of Chaldea's duties are over. The singularities have been destroyed, and the world has been saved. Chaldea stands to be decommissioned and its remnants acquired by elements of the Clock Tower, the UN, and other concerned parties. The master of Chaldea watches all this with bleary eyes since she stayed up to farm sand in the underworld until the last possible moment only to have all her servants be un-summoned the next day. Little does she know this is  the last period of peace the master of Chaldea will have before she is once again tasked with fighting for humanity's future.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 32





	1. Gudako is tired of your shit

**Author's Note:**

> This is a small fic of the Fate Grand/Order for its next story arc, Cosmos in the Lostbelt. It features an alternate take of the master which is depicted as a silent protagonist in the game. These first few chapters will feature the events of the prelude to the Lostbelt Arc. I'll try to introduce all relevant setting information as it comes up, but it's best to have played Grand/Order up until the current point in the story, although you don't exactly have to to enjoy the fic.
> 
> Currently the arc has only just begun in the English version of the game but in the Japanese version they're on about chapter 6 already, so there could be spoilers to later events if you end up looking into it later on. Events will largely stay the same to the main plot, unless I feel like not doing that, I guess? 
> 
> But details will differ such as specific conversations and a lot of liberty has been taken with the main character's story and motivation.

Seven( _eight?_ ) times had the Master of Chaldea, [ ], saved the world. She had been to places she would have believed were pure myth, had she not been told otherwise. The Babylonian Underworld. King Solomon’s Temple of Time. She had seen altered and unaltered histories firsthand.

She’d done a lot, and right now she was dissociating in Chaldea’s lobby.

_I… what’s happening right now?_

She’d been farming sand in the Underworld until the last possible moment when the underworld sealed off. And she wasn’t sure what for, because all of the servants she was farming materials for were de-summoned yesterday. She’d gotten the confirmation half-way through the event. Or canonically, anyway.

She didn’t remember much of the events of the past week. She remembered being tired. She remembered getting real bitter half-way through the week for some reason, but she must have repressed that memory.

She was tired, still. And sore. She’d been waiting for this day for the greater part of a year now, but as it got closer and closer, she dreaded it more and more. Each day that passed was a day closer to when she could go home, but also a day closer to when she’d have to say goodbye to everyone. They were supposed to be greeting the new director right now, as far as she remembered. She wondered how that was going now.

“S-senpai…” She heard a small voice whisper off to her side, snapping her out of her thoughts.

It was then that she noticed all the soldiers in the room which had appeared suddenly.

_Oh… that’s what’s going on right now?_

“Hmmmm, have the powers that be already ruled that Chaldea is no more than a criminal cartel, and you have simply neglected to inform us?” Da Vinci said coolly.

Mash next to her clutched her former master’s arm. Mash was nervous, but not as nervous as she could’ve been. It had been a while since she had lost the ability to enter combat as a Pseudo-servant. For reasons unknown, the servant inside her Galahad was no longer responding to her calls. However regardless of the fact that she was now like any other human, she was someone who had gone through 7 singularities alongside her master, not including the minor ones.

She had seen and experienced more than many people did in their entire lifetimes. She wasn’t afraid, and neither was her master. Instead of being just unafraid however, her master was also not all ‘there’ at the moment, though, so to speak.

“Forty soldiers?” She said slowly, as if processing the number in her head. She slouched forward because she couldn’t muster the energy to support her head where it stood.

She was so tired, she wanted to go to sleep right there, but maybe it would’ve been rude. She didn’t know why she would care though.

“…Forty soldiers… Sounds like a challenge quest. Da Vinci could probably solo it… In battle mode. I think there was more that one time in Shinjuku…” She said with a yawn.

“S-senpai!” Mash said, a bit urgently this time.

Well, it was probably true? It was hard to comprehend the scale of servants’ powers on a normal scale. Legendary heroes from myths and legends, most of them could level armies alone given enough mana supply. They never generally fought human enemies though. Shinjuku was one of the few exceptions.

Chaldea’s Da Vinci was split into two separate entities as a servant. Her presence in Chaldea itself was finely tuned for the administrative duties of Chaldea, as well as a bunch of things she didn’t really understand. She understood fighting though. Da Vinci had a separate Spirit Origin tuned for combat, and it was _very_ nice.

Pioneer of the Stars EX! Golden Rule(Body B)! Natural Born Genius EX! Her multi-target Noble Phantasm! And not to mention her _thighs_. [ ] had expressed how much she appreciated each of those qualities to Da Vinci herself, except for the last part, of course.

Too bad she hadn’t been able to summon her, like at all.

“Wh-why you…!” The new director man began to say.

Da Vinci had to stop herself from laughing out loud to continue her statement.

“That’s a bit out of line, but I would say [ ] is correct. We ARE the mysterious organization that saved the whole world, after all. If there was a warrant for our arrest, you should have come with a small army at least,” She said. “But you only brought a paltry forty soldiers. Doesn’t seem fit to the task, does it? So this isn’t something the Mage’s Association decided, but a call you made on your own right?”

The new director man was sweating a bit. Now that she thought about it though, she didn’t remember what his name was.

“Why don’t we get the Association on the phone and see what they have to say about this?” Da Vinci said with her beautiful smile. “I’m sure they’d love to hear what was going on.”

[ ] had to give credit where credit was due, the soldiers didn’t even flinch from any of the threats they exchanged. [ ] recognized that what she said did indeed amount to a threat, but from what she could tell, none of the forty soldiers stepped out of line at any point during the exchange.

Da Vinci and the new director continued to exchange words, while [ ] continued to completely zone out from the conversation.

Mages were new to her a year ago. Right now she supposed they still were. She hadn’t had the privilege of dealing with many besides Chaldea staff. Chaldea was a microcosm of focused talent and expertise, it wasn’t indicative of the larger world of Mages. This Gordlolf? Goldrolf? Goldrof, Gridlock… whoever he was, he didn’t seem all that close to the world of Mages. Money still seemed to hold sway in the Clock Tower, after all.

From everything she’d heard about the Clock Tower, she wasn’t entirely sure what she felt about it. But, if she had to say she didn’t really think she liked them much. She heard stories from the staff about their friends and some of the higher-ups who were on the nicer side, but also a lot of stories about the assholes. It was about a 4:1 ratio.

She didn’t know, it just seemed so exhausting to be in there, if it was really like what they said.

“…I used the entirety of the Musik family fortune to buy all of Chaldea’s assets and prevent its dismantling.” Goldgolf said. “You see, the Clock Tower people were desperate to get their hands on technology they could bring back to their respective departments.”

He suddenly stood straight and turned up his nose while looking up with an expression of loathing on his face.

“But I just DETEST them. I couldn’t stand to see them get what they want.”

Alright, now she was listening.

“An organization needs all of its parts, just like a human body. It’s barbaric to try and carve out its heart or lop off one of its arms!”

Alright, she liked Gordolf. There was just something refreshing about him. He wasn’t interested in some god-like ambition like saving all of humanity from their sins, or… saving all of humanity from their sins, but he was the type of person that staked their entire life and fortune on the small amount of pride he had as a human being.

She’d seen so many god-tier egos this last year. Seeing one this small was honestly refreshing, and she wished this man well with whatever it was he was doing.

_Oh right, he’s doing a hostile takeover._

And then they went to comply with the hostile takeover, after a priest arrived, or something.

\--

“That could’ve been very dangerous, Senpai!” Mash scolded her. “Don’t you remember what Da Vinci said in the beginning?”

“Uh… no.” [ ] replied. “I… might not have been paying attention, what was it?”

“Silence is golden!” Da Vinci had said, cutting in. “I have to say, I was quite flattered by your words, [ ], but Mash is right, that had the potential to become dangerous situation. I don’t think it would’ve been dangerous against anyone who’s had experience with Mages, however. Magecraft is a dangerous field, it wouldn’t be surprising for anyone with any experience in Magecraft to be encounter a spell which could kill an entire room in a second. I saw plenty back in my day, and most of those were failures!”

Da Vinci made a flourish by spinning in the office chair they’d managed to get into confinement on the way in.

“But, that’s besides the point. I know the reason [ ] is like this. She’s sad after losing all the servants she’s made a connection with over this past year. She always gets like this when she’s tired, but she lashes out because she’s distracting herself from her own emotions.” Da Vinci said. “Mash, you should giver her a hug!”

“On it, director!” Mash said. She lunged for her master and tackled her to the bed.

“No, wait, stop!” The former master of Chaldea shrieked as Mash pulled her into a tight embrace. In her weakened state she had no choice but to submit.

Da Vinci nodded approvingly from were she sat.

“I suppose while we have you tied up, we should talk about the Church.” Da Vinci said. “That priest wasn’t any ordinary priest. I’m guessing he’s part of their combat team, the Executors.”

[ ] piped up at that. Combat priests was a novel concept. She wondered what kind of weapons they used. All she could think of was the whip and various sub weapons from Castlevania. The Castlevania protagonists hadn’t ever been priests though.

Although, now that she thought about it Jeezy boy used a whip that one time in the temple. Maybe she wasn’t as off as she thought.

“The Executors are supposedly devotees of the blade who spread God’s teaching in his absence,” She explained. “They’re usually fairly monstrous, trained to fight mages and mystical creatures. They believe Mystics belong to solely God’s domain, and they suffer neither Magecraft nor heresy in the name of their Lord. Basically their mission is to bring all human knowledge under their control.”

Mash piped up with an observation.

“I could tell that priest was adept at hunting and fighting, or at least, that’s what Galahad tells me.” Mash said.

“Right, we’ll have to be careful about that one.” Da Vinci said, nodding. “In the meantime, we can probably discuss Koyanskaya as well. She’s almost a total mystery. She isn’t affiliated with the Church or the Mage’s Association. Maybe she was the one who convinced Goredolf to acquire Chaldea. Aside from that…”

The adults began to discuss the various mysteries surrounding their new circumstances, and [ ]’s head began to feel very heavy indeed. Her eyelids were getting heavy too. Embraced by Mash’s softness, and her sweet scent, sleep was calling her, and she’d been ignoring it far too long already.

“Mash… Mash, I’m falling asleep. 3, 2, 1,” [ ] whispered.

And just like that, she was out. Falling asleep at the drop of a hat was a skill she’d been forced to learn by her experiences. Go long enough without sleep and the body _will_ sleep but falling over in an important moment isn’t exactly something you want to happen.

It was never pleasant. She could be out for hours, and the amount of time she remembered sleeping varied per experience. This time she felt like she’d only been asleep for seconds before Mash was shaking her awake.

“How long was I out for, Mash?” She asked blearily. She didn’t feel like she slept at all.

“About 5 minutes, Senpai.” Mash replied.

“Oh…” [ ] groaned softly into her pillow. “Noooooooooo…”

“That’s right, looks like you got called up first.” Da Vinci said. “I know it might be hard on you, but you can sleep as much as you want when you come back!”

There was no point delaying it. Throwing a tantrum wasn’t going to make it over any quicker. Mash helped her to her feet and she staggered off for her questioning.

\--

She felt like she’d just walked out of a really easy, but long exam which had the same question reprinted a dozen or so times per page. Half of those questions were just yes or no questions. Half of the later questions she’d already answered in the first half. And somehow they made it drag on for _hours._

She wanted so badly to fall to the ground and pass out right now, but if there was something that could salvage the day, it’d be falling asleep next to Mash, listening to her soft breathing soothing her soul.

Suddenly a familiar figure stood in her way. Konyakasksksks or whatever her name was.

“You look exhausted little Kitty,” She said. She walked up and tilted [ ]’s chin upwards to look right into her eyes. “This your first time playing with the big boys? Then you’d better hurry up and learn how the game is played. As they say, experience is every-,”

She was suddenly interrupted by a Fou TackleTM, out of nowhere. Fou wisely went for the legs but unfortunately he was no match for the Konyasaskaskdsa.

“Oh, is this your cat? I’m sorry, I couldn’t help but hit back!” With an expert motion, she lifted her foot and shot it down, pinning Fou to the ground.

Fou made its small cries for help, but unfortunately [ ] was out of sympathy for anybody at this point.

“…That’s what you get for attacking random people, Fou,” She said, crouching down to bother the animal.

While it was like this she could squish its cheeks as much as she wanted to and there was nothing he could do about it.

“Ahem, up here?” Someone that she seemed to have forgotten about said.

[ ] looked upwards without moving from the spot. Leggings. Damn. She looked up slightly higher, catching Konayasaks’s disgusted expression as well as a very nice overall angle indeed.

“No thanks, this is good,” [ ] said.

She sensed the frustration starting to build up. Konyasakaaaaaaa, extended a finger under [ ]’s chin and began to dig a fingernail into her flesh.

“Don’t make me repeat myself, okay?” She said, looking right into [ ]’s eyes, with that same measured smile, but with a deadly expression.

[ ] did as she was told.

“Excellent, now let’s have a little chat, shall we?♥” She said.

Conditioner began to talk, but [ ]’s mind was a mess. She obediently followed along with the conversation as best she could but there was only really one live brain cell floating around in her head, and it was telling her one thing and one thing only.

 _I want her to tie me up,_ [ ] thought.

She didn’t think she’d have minded it so much if she was the one doing the interrogating instead of the panel she’d had to speak to. It was too late now. She was imagining being forced to give up her secrets one by one. She dragged her mind back to the conscious world for a moment to make sure she was only drooling inside her mouth.

“Now, how about Team A? The seven people who were originally meant to save the world, not you. Mmmm, maybe I should rephrase that. They were the seven people from whom you stole the opportunity of a lifetime.” Mortal Kombat said, licking her lips. “Now, be a good girl and tell me, how much do you know about those seven people?”

[ ] stared at her blankly.

“…Huh? Don’t tell me you’ve never heard ANYTHING about them the whole time you’ve been here?” Konyakodon said.

“…I never asked.” [ ] replied.

“You’re kidding! I didn’t know you were so cold hearted, [ ]. And you don’t even know their names.” Koyanskaya said. She began to circle around [ ]. “…You stole everything from them. Their jobs… their purpose… even their place at Chaldea. In that case, you really can’t blame them if they wake up pissed off at you, can you?”

[ ] remained silent for a moment.

From a certain point of view, Koyanskaya was right. She had more or less stolen the glory. She hadn’t ever bothered to learn their names or anything about them.

Never mind the fact that they were for all intents and purposes dead to the world. Not as an exaggeration either, if you were going by physical laws. She supposed it was all normal to them by now. But the trick that kept them alive in their coffins, to her, was exactly just that, a trick.

Chaldea itself almost felt like it’d only survived the total incineration of human history because of a trick. It had tricked the world into thinking it didn’t exist, so when the world was destroyed, Chaldea remained. It was simpler to believe that than all the technical information behind it.

In the beginning she’d known about the seven masters. They didn’t really seem that different from the others, when none of the masters had any plans to be freed from stasis for the foreseeable future. She understood the reasons. It was too dangerous and became less and less viable as Chaldea’s resources dwindled.

But she remembered, in the beginning what she’d decided to do. She knew Mash knew them. She knew Da Vinci knew them. She knew she could’ve asked about them at any time, although she really didn’t care about them in the beginning. Instead she made a different choice. “I’ll ask them all when they wake up.”

Singularity after singularity, mission after mission, she completed them all with Mash and a wonderful cast of servants by her side. But how many times had she wished for it? How many times did she lay awake at night, wishing for someone else to take her place? How many times did she wish that when she opened her eyes, she would be somewhere else?

“Why would I remember their names when I don’t even remember yours?” The master of Chaldea said. She wasn’t going to hold back anymore. If she wanted to pick a fight, she would get a fight.

“Why you-“

“Konjac Gel, or whatever your name is, the Seven masters don’t have anything to do with me anymore. You know it yourself, you’re taking over Chaldea, and I no longer have a role.” [ ] said, cutting her off.

She’d been cordial thus far, but she was about to go for the low blows. It wasn’t going to be nice between the two of them soon enough. She was burning that bridge herself, before Marie Kondo did it for her.

“Don’t you have anything more important to do? Someone important to suck off, or something? Groldorlf can’t be your highest ambition here.”

Wasn’t it hypocritical of her to indulge in her sexuality and condemn it at her leisure? Honestly it was pretty bad to be inconsistent like that. But she wasn’t a priest. And this was how you won fights from a disadvantage.

Kublai Khan was obviously more skilled in trickery and manipulation than her, as well as Magecraft, charm, and everything else, probably. The way to beat a superior opponent was to drag into your battlefield and beat her with experience.

Right now she was letting her know that her battlefield was a boxing ring, and [ ] was ready on the other side with two holes punctured in her boxing gloves with fingers going straight up through them, although weren’t long enough to show anything but the tip, but the positioning of the holes made it clear which fingers where sticking up.

“You impudent little…-” Kodak Moment began to speak, but then a shout rang out throughout the hallway.

“K-Koyanskaya!” Goredolf called.

He looked sweatier than usual, and he was flanked by some NFF forces.

“Oh, how lucky for you, it seems we’ll have to cut our conversation a little short,” Code Lyoko said. She leaned in to whisper into her ear.

 _“This is far from over.”_ There was something about her tone of voice which made her shiver. Something primal, an innate fear. She was clearly far more than she let on.

The feeling was gone in a flash. In its place, she welled up with pride for being able to stand up for herself and being fighting fit after a year without having to interact all that many other humans.

And then a little while later everything went really poorly.


	2. Gudako is wary of priests

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While waiting for Da Vinci to return from her duties, Gudako has a "nice" conversation with a friendly priest. She only notices too late that it may be a prophecy of things to come.

\----

“The A team masters… we could tell you all about them, but are you sure you’re going to last until then?” Da Vinci said.

Truth be told, she wasn’t, but now that she thought about it she’d rather get it out of the way sooner rather than later, in case any of them were liable to hold a grudge for whatever reason.

[ ] had her head propped up on Mash’s shoulder, arms wrapped around her waist, ready as she was ever going to be.

“I’ll be fine, Da Vinci, I owe it to them to know their names at least before they get woken up.” She said.

Thanks to the conversation with Kryptonite, she was no longer feeling down. But she needed a little closure, that was all.

She wasn’t the type to get hungry. But she was the type that would bottle things up for years until they exploded. It was high time she got started on some New Year’s resolutions, and step 1 was to stop being afraid of things that didn't matter.

Da Vinci nodded.

“If that’s what you want then we’re happy to help.” Da Vinci said. “Alright then, where shall we start?”

\-- _December 31 st, 2019--_

[ ] lay awake in her bunk bed, four days since the takeover of Chaldea began.

They’d been confined to their room for the better part of all four days, some of them had had their duties to attend to but some hadn’t.

She didn’t particularly mind it. It was better than rocky ground, but she understood their feelings. She didn’t imagine anyone would enjoy being isolated for a year in Chaldea, and then being confined in a smaller space awaiting sentencing from an authority they’d never been able to trust.

While they were waiting she had been thinking about the A Team masters again.

She felt like the A Team leader was the most relevant to her. He was the most protagonist-like out of the rest of them. She thought Kadoc could’ve maybe done it too, but he looked too edgy. She wondered if he carried his eye shadow around with him. And she also wondered why the hell he used it. Well… he looked good with it but did guys usually think about fashion like that?

Hell, she didn’t even think about fashion like that. She was getting off track.

A Team’s leader, Kirschtaria Wodime was the primary disciple of Marisbury Animusphere. Da Vinci had said that Marisbury might’ve made him his successor as Lord if they hadn’t had better things to do, and he didn’t get blown up. Marisbury Animusphere was, as she guessed, the previous director Olg…la? Olga?-Marie’s father.

Truth be told, she’d almost forgotten about his entire existence. For someone so important to Chaldea, being its founder and creator, she couldn’t spot a trace of him looking around just casually. Maybe there were some documents or something, but she wouldn’t know. She was expecting a statue or a picture of something, but there was nothing.

Back to the matter at hand.

She felt a little bit of an affinity with Kirschtaria Wodime. She was at the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of Magecraft potential, but she seemed to have a thing for summoning Lancers.

She’d had a lot of time over the past year to think about Servants and Heroic Spirits in general. Apparently Chaldea had only had legal permission to summon 7 servants, but by the end of the year she’d summoned well over a hundred.

She wasn’t the unrivalled expert on Servants and everything that came with them, even after all of her experience, but she knew servants.

Individually, servant to master, she knew them better than anyone else.

Even from there it had been a journey to get to her current line of thinking. She wouldn't have even thought about it if she hadn't been exposed to a certain peculiarity about Servants.

There were a lot of reasons for Servants to qualify for one class or another. They may have used a specific weapon a lot in life, for example. She had been told Servants were originally limited to certain classes because one spirit origin wouldn’t normally be enough to contain… all of what they are, but then she’d run into the Grand Servants.

Seven servants, one for each class, had the responsibility of protecting humanity from the Beasts. It’d take a while to explain that though. Just know that she already fought two of them, and she’d REALLY rather not do it again.

Anyhow, with that revelation out of the way she started noticing a pattern amongst the servant classes. A certain trait or affinity which made them distinct from each other.

It was nothing she could pin down with a definition. Something they did better than anyone else, or just a certain peculiarity with the class itself.

Certain classes seemed to have a clear-cut purpose and some of the others didn't quite have that as much.

The purpose, she felt, for Lancers was for War.

Spears historically have been an implement of war (well... every weapon was). Compared to things like swords and bows, maybe you could consider them more of a workhorse weapon. There's certainly technique for using a spear, but spears are simple to train in. One can arm a lot of soldiers for very little by investing in spear heads and wooden poles.

She wasn’t a historian so she couldn’t _really_ speak to that side of things, but as far as servants went, Lancers seemed greatly in tune with the arts of warfare.

Every Lancer she’d encountered seemed like they were at home on the chaotic battlefield. Even a Servant like Li Shuwen, who was closer to human than most heroic spirits. As a Lancer she’d witnessed him in E Pluribus Unum, slaughtering enemies left and right.

The Knight classes were all adept at fighting and combat, but with Lancers, they seemed like they were ready to wage war at a moment's notice.

“…Senpai,” Mash called softly. “Are you awake?”

It looked like she'd have to set aside contemplation for now. She had time to think about it later, once everything had settled and calmed down.

She sat up in her bed and let out a stiff yawn.

She hoped she could take Mash with her when she left. She wasn’t sure where Mash was going to go. Maybe Da Vinci would know.

This world was going to be far behind her once this was all over. She didn't know how useful it would be in the normal world. She had a mind to collect her thoughts into a memoir at some point, or maybe just a journal. But she set that aside for the meantime. She had a cute marshmallow to attend to, after all.

She jumped out of her bed with as much energy as she could muster and embraced Mash from the front.

“Good morning, Mash!” She said. “What’s on the agenda for today?”

\----

“Da Vinci isn’t back yet, you say?” [ ] asked.

“It’s been around 12 hours since Mr. Goredolf called for her last night,” Mash replied. “It’s currently 4:30 PM. That gives us less than 12 hours until the year ends…”

Mash sounded like she was slightly more concerned about the change of date than Da Vinci’s absence. [ ] understood to a certain extent. It wasn’t quite the circumstances they’d had in mind, but this could be the last time 'they', or rather all of the people who had helped to save the world were still here in Chaldea.

They were scattered. A few remained in the room who had already served their purpose, like Meunière and some others, and some of them were still attending to the process of handing over Chaldea to the Mage’s Association forces.

But of the staff which had survived the first explosion in Chaldea, all of them were still here, and all of them were still alive.

 _All except for one,_ she remembered.

She thought back to it with a bitter smile. He wouldn’t want her to cry, and she wasn’t the type to do that anyway. All her memories of him were happy ones, and she wanted to keep it that way. To a certain extent everyone had gotten used to his absence. But, this might be the last chance to hold something in his honor. For all the lives he’d touched in Chaldea, it would be the least they could do.

\----

The door slid open, drawing the everyone’s eyes to it with anticipation. It wouldn’t have been an exaggeration to say everyone was waiting for Da Vinci, but along came a certain priest instead. He had become a familiar figure, roaming Chaldea's halls and asking them everything they'd already told the Mage's Association interrogators.

 _The balls on this guy..._ [ ] thought vengefully. Real convenient timing. Him coming in soured the mood of the entire room.

“Hello there [ ], Meunière, Ms. Demi-Servant,” He spoke. His presence filled the doorway, dragging everyone's attention to him. But he addressed only the Master of Chaldea. “I hope you don’t mind me stopping by. I just wanted to chat with you again one last time.”

Getting called by her full name made her wince on reflex. Usually when someone used it, it was because she’d landed in some trouble. If it wasn’t clear enough already, she used to be a problem child.

...Well she still was, but she used to be, too.

The Chaldea staff had all outranked her at some point, but after she’d gotten familiar with them and gotten on their good side, they’d stopped getting on her case about it. Maybe they got used to her shenanigans, or maybe she just mellowed out in their eyes, but they all called her by her first name.

Now that she thought about it that way, it made her warm inside. She wasn’t even on first name basis with her family most of the time. Getting back to the matter at hand though...

“One last time? Does that mean we’re free to go?” She piped up.

She steered her head back into the real world.

While she made conversation, she probed his eyes. It was important to gain as much information as possible to gain the upper hand, because she could certainly smell a fight brewing. She wasn’t going to make the mistake of trusting his words. Instead she was going to try running circles around him.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t giving her anything.

There was no statement he was making with his gaze. It wasn’t unfocused, it wasn’t piercing. Looking, was the way she would describe it. He was just looking at her while he was speaking. Like a normal person.

“In a manner of speaking, yes,” The priest spoke. “Very soon, your four-day house arrest will come to an end. The investigation will continue until tomorrow, but you have been cleared of suspicion.” 

At his words there was a whoop of celebration for the staff still inside the holding room.

It hadn’t been likely that their lives were at stake considering the amount of expertise contained in this room, despite how mages usually were.

Yet it was still good to receive the assurance.

“It seems that the Mage’s Association wishes to have you arrested, but we at the Holy Church feel otherwise.” The priest continued. “We see the battles you have fought, and the contributions you have made, and recognize them for what they’re worth. My superior, Pontifex Noi, commended your accomplishments personally."

"He also told me to keep you safe from the Mage’s Association’s concealment system, saying it was the least we could do to whom we owe our lives.” He finished.

The mood had changed dramatically in the detainment room.

She fought to keep the corners of her mouth from curling up too much.

She was happy, but she couldn’t let herself seem too eager, that’d be falling into his trap.

But come on, how could she not smile a little bit?

“How soon are we getting released from confinement?” She asked.

“You’ll be released in just a few hours. Musik has given the word that all of Chaldea’s staff will be released then.” The priest replied.

By her watch it was close to 5 now, which meant they’d be in time. In time for what, you may ask? Of course it was New Years supper. Some good food to send off Chaldea's final year.

She had been looking forward to it for a while now, and they'd been keeping careful stock of food supplies since December 12th and calculating what they'd be able to cook with what remained.

Hopefully they'd be able to use the kitchens, the staff were pitching in their expertise this time, as servants had always done the cooking in Chaldea beforehand.

“Thank you, Father… Kotomine?” Mash took the opportunity to speak up from behind her.

The priest turned to face her.

“My name does not matter, call me whatever you like,” He spoke. “I sense you have further questions. Do you wish to speak them?”

Mash hesitated for a moment. Mash didn’t seem to trust him either, which was wise. He sure looked intimidating, and there was the whole thing about him being a church Executor.

Da Vinci had told her they fought phantasmal beasts in the modern age, and say what you would like about how much weaker phantasmal beasts were in modern times, but if an Executor went on a mass murdering rampage she was pretty sure they’d measure it by couch potatoes dusted per second, and your ass was on the line.

[ ] was also reeeeeeally glad Mash remembered what his name was, because she sure as hell hadn’t, and she didn’t want to start calling him Father Ketamine, which was the first thing she'd thought of when she tried to remember his name.

The second thing she'd thought of after that was Daddy Ketamine, which was a hundred times worse.

“…What will happen to acting director Da Vinci after we’re released?” Mash spoke carefully.

That was the sticking point. [ ] likely knew what the answer was, and she realized Mash likely knew as well.

It wasn’t really about Da Vinci’s fate, but about how much longer they could be together. Was there an opportunity to bargain for time?

They’d preparing for this moment for a long time, but still, it'd be hard to let go, even for her, and especially for Mash.

“Leonardo has been hard at work in the Command Room as of last night, as the procedure to unthaw Team A has already begun. We will unsummon her once she finishes her task.” Kotomine said.

There was the verdict. Blunt as could be. A good way of avoiding any further questioning and keeping control of the conversation by providing a finality to it.

Kind of like running someone else’s car into a brick wall, except you were also the brick wall in this scenario. The only person it sucks for is you, the person getting rammed into the wall. Having been on the giving end of it once, she would say it felt great when you were the one doing it.

At the same time, maybe because of the jarring tone shift, but [ ] heard most of the members of the room draw in a gasp.

The procedure to unthaw the A Team.

The staff had even said, as experts of the technology they hadn’t expected to guarantee the lives of the Alpha team. Da Vinci was the best of them. Anyone would freely admit that, but they couldn’t help being nervous. _What if she can't do it?_ But that thought was quelled in their minds as soon as it arose. Or it should've been, because otherwise they were going to get it.

[ ] closed her eyes and recalled the names of the A-team masters which she’d learnt last night.

_So, I finally get to see them, right?_ She thought.

Saying it to herself felt like it would tilt the odds in their favour. A bit of a good luck charm. There was no charm as strong as Da Vinci by their side. But even with her faith in Da Vinci it couldn’t hurt to send some mental energy, right?

She snuck a look back over her shoulder at Mash. She looked conflicted about the situation.

As always, she was focusing more on others than herself.

The priest took notice of her expression and spoke up.

“I realize it is a bitter pill to swallow for someone who has supported you for so long, but I hope you come to understand one day.” He said. “This world belongs to the living. It has no place for the lingering dead, like Heroic Spirits.

"Even the Saints are no exception. The remnants of days past have no place in our world, no matter what they may be.”

[ ] could sense the conviction behind his words.

Which is why she didn’t really take any note of it. She’d had a little experience with a few people who had been able to speak with utter conviction about their ideals while lying straight to her face. It wasn’t really a tactic that worked on her anymore. Or at least, she hoped it didn't.

“…So you don’t think Servants are valuable? Are you telling us that only the Holy Church is on humanity’s side, and that mystics must be opposed in all forms, no matter what?!” Mash asked.

Mash was being fairly aggressive today. It must’ve been her pent up frustration at not being able to do anything about the situation. She was trying to find any chance to take to make something stick.

“Not at all. Servants are useful tools.” The priest replied without missing a beat. “…What I hate is the very concept of Heroic Spirits itself.”

The air was tense between the two. Even though the circumstances were… well, like that, she still couldn’t help picturing a Pomeranian vs. German Shepherd situation. She had to do something to defuse the situation before it threatened to boil over.

“You called her Leonardo before, does that mean you’ve spoken before?” [ ] cut in.

She placed herself between the two and tried to look as sweet as possible. She was pretty sure charm wasn’t supposed to work because priests build high willpower, but she had to do something. She didn't want to start igniting gunpowder in front of someone who was blast-proof, but you can't disarm a bomb without knowing how it blows up.

Keeping him engaged would at least help Mash cool down and be more rational.

“Yes, we spoke extensively. Mostly about this and that, in between questioning sessions. Her breadth of knowledge is staggering,” First name: Father, Last name: Kotomine replied. “There could not be a better director for Chaldea. Her expertise is boundless, and she took to the task of unthawing the A team masters with marvelous aplomb. Despite knowing the circumstances.”

She looked around, and those words seemed to have eased the mood a bit, for the staff at least, if not Mash.

As for her, She couldn’t say she liked the answer. Because it meant he thought all that about Da Vinci, and he still wasn’t going to give them any leeway. It was almost like saying they hadn't made it out of his palm just yet.

"Shouldn't you let her stick around a little afterwards?" [ ] proposed. "What if director Musik breaks something in the short time between our departure and the unthawing? Wouldn't she be the most qualified to repair it?"

"Would you not be glad to rid your hands of this affair, once and for all?" The Priest replied. "If something of that nature occurs, then that is for Director Musik and his team to discover, and it's not as if they won't have the time. My duties end with the unsummoning of Leonardo Da Vinci, and returning you all to your homes. Are you really willing to stay and offer your expertise to the usurpers of your work? If so, I would be glad to welcome you to the Church as one who embraces the teachings of our Lord. To turn the other cheek in such a scenario, after such considerable duress displays the patience of a Saint."

"Sorry, I don't think I can take that offer, but thanks anyway," She said politely. 

_D-damn it..._ she thought. Not a single crack, and she'd gotten burned in return.

The priest nodded and went on as before.

“Success or failure… I have the utmost respect for the ‘Universal Man’. Now that the coffins have been repaired, they were to be thawed by 4:00PM today. I expect we’ll be hearing good news very soon." Kotomine continued. "Leonardo will be… on her way once her work is complete. But I am willing to at least grant her a last supper.”

So it would be about as much time as she had expected; not enough. But it was hard to argue from a position of so little power.

She wasn’t quite sure how much authority Father Clorox here had. By her initial impressions of Executors from what Da Vinci had described, she’d thought Executors would be just straightforward dumb muscle. But it was clear he bore a lot of responsibilities, and he was an agent capable of making his own decisions.

There were too many unknowns for her, as someone not part of that world. Frankly she was getting kind of exhausted. She didn’t want to be a part of it if it was gonna be like this.

She really wished Da Vinci was here. Surely the Universal Man should have figured out a way to be in two places at once by now.

 _C'mon, at least one last try..._ She thought.

“A last supper, you say? Did you happen to take a look inside the kitchen on your way here? We were low on supplies for a while so I don’t know if we can have a proper send off.” [ ] sighed.

An innocent, if not tangential line of query, you may think. WRONG. Word-sparring tactic number 2, Getting Softtm. Letting your guard down against someone usually allows for one of two things. It either makes them trust you more, or they might try to take advantage of it.

Either way, you’ll more than likely get a reaction which can help gauge the intricacies of their character.

 _Well, isn’t that kind of manipulation?_ You may say, WRONG, because the stakes are different. She wasn’t looking to develop any kind of relationship, but she needed _something_ against Father Meth because she was struggling.

She wasn’t sure whether to trust him or not. She didn’t know what to make of the Church, whether they were allies or enemies.

She was frustrated. She wanted to go home. She just wanted a just tiny bit more out of all this, and everything was getting in the way.

“I imagine director Musik isn’t one to keep his vices far away from him. Perhaps you could petition his aid on procuring some of those ‘supplies’. I could ask him myself, if you would like.” The priest replied.

“Sure! That’d be great!” She replied cheerfully.

 _Damn it,_ she thought.

Look, she’d never been the best at word play but she could at least play to her strengths.

Her strengths were playing rough and pressing advantages, and neither of those really worked against a priest.

Especially these crazy actual priests who deal with crazy actual monsters.

She didn’t even know actual monsters existed a year ago, so what was she going to do?!

“Do you have any further enquiries? If you do not, I will kindly take my leave,” The priest said.

“Sorry, I don’t think I do, but maybe the staff will…?” She turned back towards Mash and the rest of the staff, and that was all the stimulus they needed to open the floodgates and start rushing in.

Chaldea’s staff were not one to waste an opportunity to take any advantage they could get. They leveled a barrage of questions at the priest, which he began to parry and answer expertly.

Mash hung back. She didn’t have to ask to know what she was thinking at this point.

Mash knew anything else she said to the priest wouldn’t have any effect. And besides, there were other staff in the crowd who were just as passionate as her about Da Vinci. Sometimes the best thing you could do was stand back and let things unfold. But she knew it had to be hard, so she squeezed her hand.

_It's going to be alright_ , [ ] tried to say with her eyes.

One way or another it would be alright in the end.

They had a world to come back to now, and a whole life ahead of them. They were so close. They just had to hold on a little bit longer, and endure a little bit more and it would be alright. It would all be alright.

“Very well then, I suppose that’ll be all,” The Priest spoke.

The questioning seemed to have ended by this point. There were a variety of expressions from the staff, satisfied and dissatisfied.

“I suppose this will be our final goodbye,” He continued.

“H-ha, I suppose it will…” [ ] replied sheepishly.

The Priest approached with a smile, and stepped closer to take up her hands in blessing.

“I pray that the Lord will show favor with you in your future Endeavors,” He said. “I truly admire your hard work, your restraint, and your dedication.”

He leaned in close to her ear, and suddenly dropped his voice into a low whisper.

“More’s the pity." He said. "All of your efforts, all of the miracles you wrought with your own hands are about to be destroyed by the very paragon of mediocrity.”

And then everything went to shit.


End file.
